Youth services are in crisis, warns NYA

The National Youth Agency has stressed that a failure to act now to fund youth clubs will decimate the youth sector leaving a generation of young people without opportunities to thrive.

With up to one in four youth centres under the threat of closure, and emergency funding for youth services coming to an end, the joint NYA and YMCA report makes clear a national strategy is needed to secure youth services over the long term.

Youth services have been cut by 73 per cent since 2010, and annual spending has dropped by almost £1 billion. The picture is equally distressing for youth services delivered or funded by local authorities. It the death of youth services by a thousand cuts. For every £16 cut from all local services by local authorities, £1 has fallen on youth provision. The NYA and YMCA say that we face a critical spending-round with the scale of need increasing three-fold during the pandemic.

Leigh Middleton, NYA chief executive, said: “Young people must be made a priority for Covid-recovery. 4,500 qualified youth workers have been lost from the frontline, and there is a shortfall of at least 40,000 adult volunteers leaving the youth sector in a dire situation. Bold investment is required, including the immediate release of the £500 million Youth Investment Fund, alongside long-term investment to train 10,000 qualified youth workers and 40,000 adult volunteers.”

Denise Hatton, YMCA’s CEO, added: “This dire situation is only set to get worse before it gets better, as a dramatically increased need for provision is met with further budget cuts locally.  Every decision not to invest in youth services right now, forces more and more youth centres into perilous situations.”